Archive for May 2010
SEC Loses $5.7 Million in Fines Against Croatian Seamstress in Goldman Insider Trading Scheme
By Zachery Kouwe
A retired Croatian underwear seamstress, who allowed her nephew, a former Goldman Sachs analyst, to make illegal insider trades through her brokerage account, has won the reversal of a $5.7 million penalty she owed to the Securities and Exchange Commission because she sent her response to the allegations to the wrong address.
Back in 2005, the seamstress, Sonja Anticevic, was implicated in an insider trading ring that involved two Goldman employees, a New Jersey mailman, a former Merrill Lynch analyst and a printing plant worker in Wisconsin. Continue reading »
Man Group To Buy GLG (WSJ)
The Man has agreed to buy one of its biggest rivals, GLG Partners Inc., in a cash-and-stock deal valuing GLG at $1.6 billion to create a hedge-fund giant managing $63 billion. Shareholders of GLG, which is headquartered in London but listed on the New York Stock Exchange, will receive $4.50 for each of their shares, a 55% premium to Friday’s closing price of $2.91. GLG’s top executives—Noam Gottesman, Pierre Lagrange and Emmanuel Roman—will receive 1.0856 new Man shares for each of their GLG shares, valuing each GLG share at $3.50.
Dimon Urges Next Generation To Improve Greece (Reuters)
This chick will never wash that ear again: Dimon seemed to win some of the skeptical students over when he said he talked to a student who was leading the protests following his appointment in the spring and he was proud of her for standing up for what she believed in. “It takes courage to be accountable,” he said. “Have the fortitude to do the right thing, not the easy thing.”
GM Reports First Quarterly Profit Since ’07 (WSJ)
The auto maker made an operating profit of $1.2 billion and generated $1 billion in cash. Global revenue grew 40% from a year ago to $31.5 billion, as the auto maker increased production 57% world-wide from a year ago. The results compare to a year earlier, when GM lost $6 billion as it slid into bankruptcy. So this would be better.
Greece Considering Legal Action Against U.S. Banks for Crisis (Bloomberg)
“I wouldn’t rule out that this may be a recourse,” Papandreou said, in response to questions about the role of U.S. banks in the crisis, in an interview on CNN. “Greece will look into the past and see how things went,” Papandreou said. “There are similar investigations going on in other countries and in the United States. This is where I think, yes, the financial sector, I hear the words fraud and lack of transparency. So yes, yes, there is great responsibility here.”
Class Warfare: Hundreds Protest Outside Bankers’ Houses In DC (HuffPo)
“Bank of America: bad for America!” shouted community leaders outside the house of Bank of America general counsel Gregory Baer.
Flood of Cash to Congress Is Unabated as Banks Seek Influence (Bloomberg)
At least 20 House and Senate lawmakers have scheduled fundraisers in May targeting the industry or hosted by lobbyists for banks such as Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Citigroup Inc., according to Democratic and Republican party committee schedules sent to prospective donors.
Jay Z’s 99 Problems (NYP)
Include the Nets, natch.
Questions For Alan C. Greenberg (NYT)
Do you e-mail your clients?
No. I never use e-mail. The girls use the e-mail.
Are you referring to your secretaries? You should call them women, not girls.
They don’t mind. They’ve been with me 25 years. Continue reading »
I’ve already left and am posting this on the go so if there are typos I don’t want to hear it. I think we can all agree that any attempts to make up for last week’s 3 Munchkins in 3 hours challenge are welcome. Some background: “IBD analyst going for 8 in an hour for a measly $350. Says he’s doing it for pride. A very liquid market at 4-5. Total volume outweighs the payout by a huge margin.”
15 minutes elapsed, 45 to go: Two DD’s down, rounding on the third one. Colleague says: “Did I mention he’s washing down with a Foster’s oil can? A for effort.” (Furthermore: “You might like to know that the only KFC in midtown that could handle this volume was at Grand Central. Two separate DoubleDown runs were required.”) Continue reading »
Last week, we told you about a letter sent by Raj Rajaratnam’s new PR guy, Jim McCarthy, to Wall Street Journal editor Mike Siconolfi complaining about the paper’s use of anonymous sources in their coverage of Raj. The specific complaint was that the paper used the phrase “a person familiar with the situation” to refer to their source, instead of identifying any inherent biases the source might have.
Well, McCarthy doesn’t seem to have gotten the response he was looking for. In a new letter to deputy managing editor Alix Freeman, released yesterday on Raj’s new web site, McCarthy claims Siconolfi scheduled a call to talk about the issue, but wouldn’t talk unless the conversation remained under wraps. Continue reading »
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Banks
Gasparino: Lloyd And The Dancing Blankfeins Might Not Save Chicago Bank
By Bess Levin
Remember that story from a few hours ago about Chicago-based ShoreBank, which was set to be seized today if it didn’t come up with the necessary scratch to survive? And how Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Citigroup, Bank of America all stepped in at the last second to raise the money, led by Lloyd Blankfein who was personally working the phones and promising people “an all-access pass to Blankfein-ville” for opening their wallets? And it looked like things were going to be okay and Lucas van Praag had already commissioned the float for the inevitable parade of GS execs Saturday afternoon? Well Charlie Gasparino, because he hates feel-good stories, is here to ruin everything, reporting that the bank may very well go down for the dirt nap (alternatively, it might not, due to the fluidity of the situation). Sayeth Chaz:
“As of now Shorebank will not get bailed out. The consortium has not agreed to a final number. They are about $25 million short of the $125 million needed. From what I understand, the consortium of Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Citigroup, Bank of America do not want to give any more money.”
“A group of traders who were focused on making bets on collateralized loan obligations with the New York-based firm’s own money are now handling trades for clients, the person said, speaking anonymously because the plans aren’t public…Goldman merged the proprietary trading desk with the team that handles transactions for clients as it wound down the positions in the proprietary trading book, the person said. Both groups were run by Gerald Ouderkirk, who was promoted to managing director in October 2006.” [Bloomberg]
Yesterday, we learned an important lessons re: how to get on Obama’s good side. If you’re looking to convince the prez to shut it on the reform bill, or lay off Wall Street’s asses, or appear on TV extolling the virtues of Blankfein’s golden scrot, plying him with Duff’s wings and complimenting his bod will get you far. Today, the woman who taught us that lesson, Luann Haley, has expressed that she probably wouldn’t have done what she did if she thought everyone was going to make such a big deal out of it. Jamie, LB, Uncle Vik, et al take note: unless you want to be accused of being a “homewrecker” (and I know at least some of you do, so feel free to disregard this tip), consider being a bit more discreet when asking ‘Bam if he’s been working out and/or if you can squeeze his bicep. The men’s room would be a good place though anywhere away from the glare of the camera should do just fine. Continue reading »
It had nothing to do with us selling 75,000 S&P e-mini futures. Via the Kansas City Star
As police battled demonstrators, investors grew increasingly worried a coming bailout of Greece wouldn’t rescue it from default.
“The market is saying it ain’t going to work,” said Hank Hermann, chief executive officer of Waddell & Reed, speaking Thursday at a previously scheduled financial conference in Kansas City. “We’re going to see how this turns out in the very near term.”
“You just had the flash-crash on Thursday. Here we are at Cannes. It’s almost like Rupert Murdoch made it happen,” said co-star Shia LaBeouf, referring to the chairman of News Corp., which owns 20th Century Fox, the studio releasing the film. “You’re down 1,000 points on Thursday, you’re up 300 points on Monday,” LaBeouf, who plays Gekko’s new protege, said in an interview. “You literally, just as I’m speaking to you, just went through the most tumultuous 30 minutes to ever hit the market in the history of Wall Street, and here we are promoting a movie. It’s wild that our movie’s taking place in this landscape. This is a firefight in the middle of the craziest money storm that has ever happened.”
